


Of Crows and Heroes

by Maledei



Category: Naruto, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Crows, Drabbles, Illusions, Itachi has a murder, Non-Linear Narrative, Reincarnation, Sharingan, Shouta has a migraine and it's named Itachi, Those poor Villains, Uchiha Itachi-centric, Where Itachi gets a second chance at life, and doesn't know what to do with it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-12 17:48:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 10,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29139537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maledei/pseuds/Maledei
Summary: Uchiha Itachi gets reincarnated into the world of Heroes and Villains.The former mass-murderer and pacifist tries to navigate this peaceful life and ends up on the path to being a Hero. He is sure somewhere the fates are laughing at the irony.This story is told in non-linear drabbles.
Relationships: Kouda Kouji & Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Itachi & Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead
Comments: 148
Kudos: 379





	1. The Beginning of a Hero

It was the first day of his new school and Itachi was early. He used the extra time to map out the layout with his Sharingan. He was going to spend the majority of the next three years here, better get know this place now than be surprised later. 

He still couldn't quite believe, that he was going to be a Hero. Somewhere out there the fates must be cackling at the irony. 

He hadn't want to be a Hero for a long time, but it was the only path, that would allow him to protect Nanako's life legally. (He couldn't stand thinking of her as his mother, he had killed his mother). 

And, even though he loathed to admit it, he missed the thrill of a challenging fight. (What was wrong with him? He was a pacifist.) 

At least he didn't have any siblings, he was not to be trusted with them. (An Uchiha's love was always absolute. He was not an Uchiha now. Did that change something?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This idea just wouldn't leave me alone, so here it is. 
> 
> Please feel free to comment and leave a kudos, if you liked it.


	2. Awakening of the Sharingan

Takeshi had just seen the mother of the little brat give him her handbag and now the kid went to investigate something in the backyard of the tea-shop. What a convenient situation. 

He swept down from the roof, his hand already closing around the handbag, when the child turned his head towards him looking him directly in the eyes. And what strange eyes they were. A blood-red iris with black dots in them spinning hypnotically. 

Blood was seeping out of the child's eyes, streaming down to his mouth, which opened too wide with too many teeth. The thing lunged at him and all he did was stand there frozen. Its tongue licked at his throat and he screamed, like he had never before.

After the attempted theft Yugasa Nanako was at the Quirk-doctor's with her son Itachi. His quirk was quite the revelation as she was quirkless and all the father had was the ability to shine light from his mouth. Somehow her little raven had won the genetic lottery and had gotten an eye-based quirk. 

"So what you say is, when you activate it, you can see better and it allows you to cast illusion on whoever looks in your eyes?"

"Yes." 

"Okay, then I will note that down. What would you say, is its name?"

"Sharingan."

"Sharingan you say? Does this name have a special meaning?" The doctor looked at her, too, but she just shook her head. She never heard of it before.

"It's the name of the eyes." Her son stated as a matter of fact. 

"And how do you know that, Itachi-kun?" 

"I just know it." He was such a cute kid, when he pouted. 

"Okay, then I will note the name down as Sharingan." 

The doctor turned back to her. "When people get their quirk, they often get a innate understanding of it, but please visit again, if you get any quirk-related difficulties. Here are a number of other sources, which may help you." The doctor gave her a number of flyers and left the office.


	3. Quirk Apprehension Test

The threat of expulsion sounded familiar to Itachi. Kakashi had been fond of them, too. He wondered, whether Eraserhead really would go through with it or was just motivating them.

While his Sharingan was not going to help him at all, his overall fitness should give him a comfortable position in the middle.

His flexibility did shock everybody but Aizawa-sensei. He probably already knew from the entrance exam. 

Bakugo reminded him forcefully of Deidara and Hidan. He was relieved, that that much destructive power was on the „good” side. (But Deidara had once been loyal, too. Then Itachi had forced him to be a terrorist.) At least Bakugo wasn't able to form somewhat independent beings out of his sweat or was religious. He shuddered at the image and quickly thought of something different.

There was Tokoyami-san and his „Dark Shadow”. Their relationship was similar to that of a jiinchuriki to their Bijuu. (He hoped, it wasn't as strong as a Bijuu. That would be problematic.) 

Overall the class had a fascinating mix of quirks. His mind went overdrive with all the possible strategies any combination of them could use. Itachi dearly hoped, their teachers were going to utilize that potential. 

(But the Heroes were oddly insistent on being in the spotlight alone. The rest of the team was relegated to the title "sidekick". Even in an international terrorist organisation they had known about the value of teamwork.)

When Eraserhead at the end revealed, he wouldn't expel anyone, Itachi only smiled. He felt the calculating gaze of him all the way back to the changing rooms.


	4. Nanako's Pondering

Something had changed in Itachi, his mother concluded. She didn't know what happened, but he suddenly got a lot more solemn and was training like a maniac. 

He had started with martial arts, when he was 5, but it wasn't only martial arts anymore. She had seen him trying to wield a plethora of weapons, until he settled on a staff and throwing-needles. (She had asked once and he called them Senbon.) 

When his obsession with training didn't go away after a few months, she questioned him. His answer terrified her a bit. 

„I realised that, if I don't want my and your life dependent on the competence of the "Heroes", I have to become stronger and need a license to use my Sharingan in public. The easiest way to such a license is to become a "Hero" myself.”

It was said with finality.

She never had been extremely close to her son, so the protectiveness surprised her. What didn't surprise her, was that he was invited to the Yuuei Entrance Exams only a year later. He was a prodigy after all.

(Though sometimes his intellect scared her. What kind of eleven-year old boy was able to see through the identities of Underground Heroes and Villains alike?).


	5. About Brothers

Tenya had first been irritated when their resident prodigy Yugasa had asked him to talk after class, but he reminded himself, that just because he was angry at the bastard Stain, he shouldn't take it out on a convenient target.

That resolution was thrown out of the window as soon as Yugasa opened his mouth. 

"You want to avenge your brother." It was not even formulated as a question. 

Tenya flinched violently and denied everything. "I don't!" 

Yugasa just stared back unbelieving with his dark and emotionless eyes. How was this relatively small and delicate looking boy so much more intimidating than the Villains they fought in the USJ?

"Do you think you are stronger than your brother?" What was that even for a question? 

"Of course not! He is a Pro-Hero!" He _was_ a Pro-Hero, a traitorous voice in his mind whispered.

"So how do think, you can kill Stain, when your brother couldn't even scratch him?" 

"It isn't like that! I just ... " He just _needed_ to kill Stain, to hurt him, to have him pay, for what he did to his brother. 

Tenya had the distinct feeling, that Yugasa thought him foolish even though his face didn't move at all. 

"If you die, your brother would not only be crippled, but also alone." There was no emotion whatsoever in his voice.  
"Whatever you decide, I won't stop you." With that Yugasa started to leave the classroom. 

Tenya was confused. "Yugasa-san, wait!" His classmate halted in his tracks and turned back to look him in the eyes.

"Why are you telling me that? Why do you even care?" 

For once Yugasa looked like he really did have to think about something. He cocked his head to the side.

"Please call me Itachi, Iida-san. You are a comrade and I don't want to loose a comrade. But I also won't make decisions for you. So, please stay alive."  
The last statement was accompanied by a small smile, which was still in Tenya's mind, when the boy had turned around and left.

Tenya only regained his bearings long after Itachi's footsteps had faded. What a confusing encounter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somehow Kouda still hasn't made an appearance, but Tenya snuck his way into this fic.  
> But the gentle giant is getting some much deserved screentime soon, just you wait.


	6. The Biggest Enemy

In the U.A. Itachi had to fight against his biggest enemy once again: Fangirls. 

He didn't have a ponytail this time around, but it didn't seem to matter. 

Everywhere he went, he heard the whispers of „Look how cute he is!”. (If they'd know what he had done, what he would be willing to do, they would be running as far away as possible.) 

In the eyes of the admirerers he was "So polite!", "A real gentleman!" or "So mysterious!". The more forward girls were practically throwing themselves at him and he had to use minor illusions to escape their grasp. Not to talk about the incident with the umbrella and the duck. His compartmentalization skills from his last life never had been more useful.

How was he going to live through this for several years?

Maybe he should gruesomely murder a cute bunny to bring his point across. That would deter them, wouldn't it? 

In this world it should work at least. He was pretty sure there weren't any Ankos, Hidans, Orochimarus or Deidaras among his fans, who would only take it as an encouragement. But it would probably get him a mandatory session with the counsellor. Better not risk it.

His popularity with the female half of the school also had the effect of bringing the wrath of Mineta with it. He just ignored the mostly harmless pranks of the pervert, though he was cautious. Jiraiya and Kakashi had proven, that perverseness was a good way to get underestimated after all. 

Maybe that was an idea. Itachi could start reading armourous literature in public. It would destroy his image as a "shy and innocent gentleman" and simultaneously give him an excellent way to avoid a lot of social interaction. On the other hand he'd have to learn how to read such texts without batting an eyelash. 

Walking to his death? Killing children? Torturing the only person he loved? All things he could do with a straight face. Reading explicit sex-scenes however was not possible. He didn't even get two lines in before shutting the book out of embarrassement. How could people read something like that and even enjoy it?

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.


	7. Eraserhead's Offer

"You wanted to speak with me, Aizawa-sensei?"

"You held back at the Sports festival.", Eraserhead accused his problem-pupil. To give him credit, Yugasa did his best to not appear as a problem-child, but Shouta knew better. After all he had done something similar as a student. 

Yugasa didn't even refute his statement and looked at him with blank eyes. 

"You could at least deny it." Yugasa just stared at him. Well it had been worth the try.

"Do you already know where you are going to do your internship?" If Shouta squinted hard and crossed his eyes, he could almost see a reaction on Yugasa's face. How was this teenager so hard to read? (And why had he learned to be this blank in the first place?)

"No." There was no inflection in the answer, no invitation to further conversation, but also no rejection of it. It was just as empty as the face.

"I would like for you to do the internship at the U.A. under me. You don't have to, of course. Whether you accept or deny won't have any impact on the classes." This time Shouta was sure to have seen a hint of something in the eyes. 

Yugasa didn't say anything for quite some time and when he responded it was only one word. "Why?" 

It was the question Shouta had feared. His answer would probably make or break Yugasa's decision. The boy had an uncanny ability to read between the lines and see beneath the obvious, so he had to tread carefully. 

"I can help you with staying out of the spotlight and introduce you to others in the community." Yugasa just stared unblinkingly. Why had Shouta even expected something different?

"Our Quirks also have some similarities, so I thought you could benefit from my advice." Yugasa blinked. 

"Why do you want that?" 

_Because you probably saved my life in the USJ and I want to repay you at least a bit._  
_Because I am not sure of your moral code and want to observe you._  
_Because you show signs of trauma and I'd like to help you._

Shouta said none of those thoughts. 

"Because you have tremendous potential and I like to see it realized. Shinsou Hitoshi from the General Studies course will also be doing his internship here. I think you could help each other." 

People like Yugasa reacted better to kindness, when there was (seemingly) an ulterior motive for it.

Another blink. "Thank you for your offer Aizawa-sensei. When do you want an answer?" Yugasa bowed a little.

The contrast between the emptiness and the politeness was just as jarring as it had been the first day. 

"Just tell me by the end of the week, if that is okay for you?" 

Yugasa nodded once and left after wishing him a nice day. What a strange child.


	8. The Battle Trial

All Might didn't know what to think of Yugasa Itachi. The boy was unfailingly polite and very talented, but something about him made his insides squirm. 

Maybe it was the empty look in his eyes or the way he didn't seem at all effected by the violence displayed between Katsuki-san and Izuku.

He had read the description of the Sharingan and the potential, that that Quirk had was enormous.  
Good illusions were extremely hard to fight of, because you didn't know, they were there in the first place. Of course they required an intimate understanding of the way humans perceived the world and themselves, but the limit was the sky. 

When it was time for their battle trial Yugasa and Minoru-kun only conferred for a short time before Minoru-kun made four sets of bola out of his sticky balls and the capture tape. Then Yugasa took out a small something out of the depths of his black cloak and Minoru-kun stayed with the objective, while Yugasa hid himself further into the hallway, two of the improvised bolas by his side. 

Jiro-san and Ojiro-kun didn't need long to find the "villains", because Jiro-san could hear them breathing with her Quirk.

As soon as they turned the corner into the hallway, where Yugasa was hiding himself, said boy activated the small device in his hands, which produced a small flash of red light. It immediately drew the attention of the "Heroes" and they looked into the bloodred eyes of Yugasa because of it. 

He definitely got points for creativity and resourcefulness from All Might for that. The small red flash automatically drew the attention of the eyes to the nearest source of red, which were his eyes and allowed him to use his Quirk. 

All Might didn't know, what exactly Yugasa showed his opponents, but it made sure that they didn't dodge the bolas and were neatly entangled in the capture tape only seconds after they had engaged. 

The contact with the tape seemed to jerk them from the illusion, but it also could have been Yugasa, who lifted it. 

All Might made a mental note to talk with Aizawa-san on the subject of Yugasa's Quirk. It couldn't be, that they had only the barest information on such a dangerous ability.


	9. Reasons to Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally Kouji makes an appearance.

Kouji and Itachi were having a small picnic in the forest on the U.A.'s training grounds. They had deftly evaded Itachi's fanclub and were now enjoying the nature among the small flock of crows Itachi could call his own. 

(Those before had been Shisui's, but here they were all his.) 

Kouji seemed to be mulling about something, but far was it from Itachi to guess. He only ever had one real friend before and he committed suicide, when Itachi was 13, so he he had no reference on what to expect from their friendship. 

(Maybe Kisame and him could have been friends, but they never trusted each other enough to be anything other than comrades.)

The fact, that Kouji didn't remind him of anyone of his former life was mercy on his soul. He wasn't disappointed, when he didn't fulfil unrealistic expectations or stabbed by guilt, when he reminded him of his victims. Adding to that Kouji was gentle and non-judgemental. It was easy to enjoy his company. 

"Itachi?" 

"Mh?"

"I ... I don't know, whether I want to be a Hero anymore." Itachi blinked and cocked his head.

"Why is that?" Kouji was twisting his big hands in a nervous manner.

"Do you remember my spar with Denki today?" Itachi nodded.

"I hit him really hard with my fist in the face. Recovery Girl healed him, but I still feel bad." Kouji looked anywhere but Itachi for a bit.

"I don't want to hurt people. It was only a spar. What is, when it is a real battle and the injury is more permanent? I don't want to cripple people." 

_"Mother?"_

_"Yes, my dear?"_

_"I can talk to you about anything, right?"_

_"Of course."_

_"And you won't tell father?"_

_"I won't tell. So what do you want to talk about?"_

_"I don't want to be a shinobi anymore."_

_"Oh. Why is that?"_

_"I don't like killing people"_

_"That is quite normal, Itachi. Almost nobody likes to kill."_

_"But why are there so many shinobi then? They don't all like killing do they?"_

_"No they don't. I don't like killing and I am still a shinobi."_

_"Why?"_

_"Because I want to be able to protect my family. I would kill every single person in this village, if it meant, that you and your brother would be safe. You don't have to like killing, just be willing to do it in order to protect the village."_

"Why did you want to become a Hero, Kouji?" Call him selfish, but Itachi didn't want to loose his only friend in this life. 

Kouji frowned. "I always wanted to be a Hero." 

Itachi cocked his head to the side. "But why did you want to be a Hero?"

Kouji looked thoughtful. "Because I wanted to protect people, I guess." 

"But in order to protect them you have to be able to hurt some."

"I understand that now. But I am not sure, if I can do that."

"Do you think, you would feel regret, if there was an attack and you wouldn't be able to help?" 

_"Remember, kouhai: If you don't want to know, how it feels to loose a member of your team, be strong enough to protect them."_

"Yes? I think." Kouji's whole face was scrunched in thought. He subconsciously wrung his hands and his words were only just audible.

Itachi remained silent. There was no use in interrupting the thought-process. He fed his crows and relished in the sense of home the forests brought. 

After some time Kouji seemed to come to a conclusion. "I will still try to become a Hero."

Itachi smiled. He had been sure, that that would be his friend's decision, but it was still nice to hear. "I'm glad." 

"Thank you." 

"You're welcome." 

One of his crows brought them a little pack of dried fruits. Itachi shared it with Kouji and the rest of the flock. It was a nice day.


	10. A Peaceful Life

The school in this world was interesting in a sense. There was a lot less emphasis on physical education and a lot more on the education of the mind. Where he had to puzzle most knowledge together from various observations before, it was presented on a silver platter here.

There were no expectations from home this time around. (He had a home again.) 

Nanako (not his mother) only wanted him to have a somewhat happy life. It was a disconcerting experience. There was no pressure from outside, no set path. 

But who knew how long this held, so he learned and learned. Gathering as much useful information before the world came crushing down on him. (Again.)

While he was not really able to connect with his classmates, he was content to just observe their natural progress. 

This peaceful environment left them a lot less burdened, but also a lot more naive and carefree. Itachi didn't know, what he liked better. (It should be the peace. He had worked so hard for it.)

His school had a martial arts club. He ignored it for two years. He didn't want to fight. (Again.)

He watched them train. It was prudent to be knowledgable about how people fought in this world. Just in case.

It wasn't because his body itched to be trained again or he missed the exhilaration of a good fight. 

(He could help those children with their stances. They all were a bit off.)

He didn't want to fight. He was a pacifist, he reminded himself.

When he took up physical training again, it was only because a healthy spirit was dependent on a healthy body. 

Of course Nanako had to see him doing a kata and decided going to the martial arts club would be an opportunity for him to get friends. He couldn't really argue against it. She already expected almost nothing of him, the least he could do was respect the few wishes she had. 

He stayed in the club to not disappoint Nakano. When he smiled more often and even talked to some of his classmates, there was no proven causation. (He always had been a good liar.)


	11. Costumes and Clothes

After All Might had introduced himself to the class, Itachi despaired. There were too many Gais and Narutos in this world to leave his (questionable) sanity intact. 

At least the Battle Trial sounded interesting. (He was a pacifist, he reminded himself.) 

But before that could commence there was the matter of their "Hero-Costumes". 

Itachi had provided the support-team with a very detailed description of his weapons and clothing. (It wasn't a costume. That would imply, that the fights would only be a play, not a life or death situation.) 

He decided to emulate the Akatsuki cloak, because it had been made for fighting and he already knew how to use it. It obscured small movements, could conceal a multitude of weapons and didn't restrict the motion range. 

The only problem had been that it was easily damaged and needed to be replaced a lot. He hoped to avoid that this time. (He couldn't use fire anymore.)

He would have loved to use a mask, but it made it harder for his enemies to look into his eyes. He still could weave illusions without eye-contact, but that wasn't an ability he wanted to be known. 

No one but Kisame had known that he cast most genjutsus with his left hand not his eyes. It had taken their enemies more than once by surprise. (Not that it meant much in the end.)

He was brought out of his musings by Bakugo and Midoriya, who were fighting a lot more serious than neccessary. 

What was interesting, was All Might's response. Instead of breaking the fight up before someone got seriously injured, he cheered Midoriya on. 

Maybe it had to do with the fact, that their Quirks seem similar. Something to ponder on later. (He didn't want to get involved again.)


	12. A Mentor

Itachi only just evaded the kick from Eraserhead, flipped while throwing a smoke grenade and landed on his feet, Sharingan blazing again, after breaking the line of sight between them. Before the senbon he had thrown found their target, Eraserhead called the spar to a stop. 

The needles were expertly plucked out of the air with his capture weapon and he motioned to for his pupil to join him on the sidelines. Itachi couldn't for the life of him figure out, what the point was, but did so readily. 

In the last weak his homeroom teacher had shown, why exactly he was qualified to teach the next generations of Heroes. He understood the value of subterfuge and "dirty" tricks, of concealing your abilities and waiting for the right moment. He also showed remarkable social capabilities regarding Shinsou-san. 

Itachi would even go as far and say he had come to respect this man during his internship. So there had to be a good reason for the abrupt end to their spar.

Eraserhead made eye-contact with him, a troubled look on his face. (Sometimes it still spooked him, that people weren't afraid of his eyes.)

"You are still holding back. I could understand it, when you did at the Festival, even when you fought in front of Shinsou-kun, but why are you still doing it?"

Itachi was taken back, not that it showed on his face. He didn't realise, it had been that obvious. Ideas on how to remedy the situation were created and discarded. The fact that he was reluctant to harm his teacher was the biggest problem in finding a solution. 

He didn't want to disappoint his mentor. (Again.) Wasn't that a terrifying thought? When had Aizawa-sensei become his mentor? Why was he hesitating? Hesitation had never been a problem before. He should just put him in Tsukuyomi, modify his memory and be done with it. 

(But this time there were no orders to hide behind. It would be his guilt alone. And he was so tired of feeling guilty.)

His inner turmoil must have taken up more time than he thought, because Aizawa-senpai was speaking again. 

"Look, kid. I understand, that you don't trust me and that is okay. But you have to trust someone. You have to be able to train at your maximum or you won't be able to pull it off in a real fight. And then you'll be stuck with the knowledge of not having been able to save someone, because you made an avoidable mistake." He had a far away look in his eyes. "I would know."

That was not, what Itachi had been expecting. There was no accusation in his posture or words, no demand to reveal the full extent of his abilities, no threat, if he didn't. It could all be an elaborate scheme to gain Itachi's secrets. But, if he had learnt one thing, it was the fact, that this world was alarmingly straight forward. 

There were Villains and Heroes and while it wasn't always clear cut, there was no plan behind the plan behind the plan. Humans were still humans, but the currency wasn't secrets as it had been in the Elemental Nations. The biggest secret of the whole nation was that their idol was injured for Kami's sake.

Itachi had now been living for more than 16 years in this world and still thought as a shinobi. It would be funny, if it weren't so sad. Itachi still laughed. 

He had wasted years of his life being afraid of the other shoe to drop and only now realized, that it wasn't even there. It was hilarious. 

For the first time in years (decades) he couldn't hold his laughter in anymore. The sound that escaped his lips was completely unfamiliar to him. It felt like all the weight on his shoulders was flowing off of him. Maybe he could just float away. The image elicited another round of laughter. Aizawa must think him insane, but even that didn't stop him from doubling up with laughter. (He didn't want to stop.)


	13. Boredom

English was taught by Present Mic (self-proclaimed best friend of Eraserhead). 

_"That green abomination there is Maito Gai, my self-proclaimed Eternal Rival. You'll get used to him."_

Every time he was emphasising the word „You”, Itachi was expecting „YOUTH!”. Even their smiles had a similar shining quality. It was unnerving. 

Ultimately the class was a waste of his time. He had mastered English years prior and the boisterous nature of the others was grinding on his nerves. (He could survive weeks with only Hidan and Deidara as company before. He had gotten complacent, it seemed.) 

At least his seatneighbour was tolerable. They communicated a lot via sign language and Itachi liked them more and more. (He also had liked Kisame. What did that say about him?) Kouji-san was a friendly but reserved individual. He could command animals and they bonded over their shared fondness of birds and sweets. 

Itachi hadn't thought it possible, but Mathematics was even more boring than English. It had always come easily to him and he already knew everything, that was going to be taught to them. He had taken a shine to stochastics and statistics a few years prior, because there had been nothing similar in the Elemental Nations as far as he knew. It was freeing to have an interest, which was not laden by his past life. 

Kaminari-san looked almost as bored as Itachi felt, but he doubted it was, because he already knew the material, but rather was just not interested in it, which was a shame. One could never learn enough. 

The sheer possibilities Kaminari-san's Quirk provided were endless. He could interrupt, overload or activate security systems. Not to talk about all the ways Kaminari-san could kill without a trace. If he had the control, he could even let people act as his puppets. 

Maybe Itachi should be grateful, that he obviously wasn't as smart as Sasori had been. He shuddered at the reminder of the puppeteer's and Orochimaru's conversation topics. Nobody needed that. (But they had at least been interesting.)


	14. Freedom of Choice

"Aizawa-senpai?" 

"I told you to quit calling me senpai." Replied the person in question despite knowing the futility of it.  
Since Itachi had broken down in front of him, he called him senpai and nothing Shouta said could deter him from it. He was somewhat flattered to be trusted to such an extent, but his instincts were telling him, that this trust was more dangerous than the Nomu. There were rarely wrong. 

"What do you think about the freedom of choice?" 

That was the other thing about Itachi's new found trust. Apparently Shouta was now his go-to advisor in all things moral and philosophical. He tried to not think to hard about the reasons behind most of the questions, it was bound to be Trouble. (Even in his mind he could hear the capital.)

"How do you mean that?" 

Itachi stilled for a moment. His face didn't change in the slightest, but Shouta still had the impression, that an important decision was made. 

"I could have prevented Iida-kun's injury." Shouta blinked. That was unexpected. 

"I didn't peg you for someone, who feels guilty for the mistakes of other people."  
Itachi frowned. "I don't." 

"Then why bring it up?"

"Should I have prevented it?" 

Shouta had to think a moment to connect all those questions in his mind. Sometimes he thought, that his problem-pupil had a secondary intelligence-quirk. Shouta was by no means stupid, but it was not easy to follow the leaps of Itachi's mind. His rather silent personality and the tendency to layer meanings was not helping at all.

"So you want to know, at what point it is okay to meddle in someone's life against their will?" 

He didn't ask, how he could have prevented the whole debacle. Itachi's illusions worked by manipulating the senses of his victims. Which was the manipulation of neurons. The brain was made of neurons. The Sharingan was making being under Hitoshi's "Brainwash"-ability look like free will.

Shouta just hoped he was enough to keep Itachi on the Heroes' side. Not that anybody could do anything against it, if he decided to become a Villain or Vigilante. He shook himself. There was no point in dwelling on that at the moment. 

Itachi nodded. Shouta closed his eyes for a moment. That was not an easy to answer question. Normally he advocated to utilise one's full potential, but this was not possible in Itachi's case without getting in conflict with the Human Rights Declaration. This was a serious moral dilemma his student and subsequently Shouta had found themselves in. 

"I don't know. And I don't think there is a good answer to this question. My advice would be to not do it outside of life-threatening situations. I think everybody has the right to make choices. Even bad ones as long as they don't endanger the lives others with it. Of course it is often not as simple as that, but as I said, there is no clear answer." If one were to follow those lines of thought, it wouldn't take long to arrive at the point, where one would weigh one life against another. And that was a point, which Shouta tried to visit as seldom as possible.

He would definitely ask Nemuri to go drinking with him tonight or tomorrow night. He needed to ban those thoughts back to the pits they came from. 

"Thank you, Aizawa-senpai. I will take it into consideration. Have a good day."

"No problem, Itachi-san."


	15. The Beast's Forest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic now has chapter titles!

Itachi stepped out of the bus as one of the last people, Aizawa-senpai's eyes on his back. He took a deep breath. The air here was much cleaner, than he was used to. The smell of fertile soil and green leaves triggered a sudden bout of nostalgia of the times, when Shisui and him had chased one another through the forests of Konoha, but it was a mercifully short impression. 

Kouji sidled up to his left. "There is something afoot again, isn't there?" 

Itachi smiled at the question. "How did you know?" 

Kouji grumbled. "You took your coat with you. And there are two other people near us, but neither you nor Aizawa-sensei are concerned at their presence."

"You are getting better. Our destination is a few miles into that direction at the base of the mountain. I think we will have to reach it as our first mission objective."

Kouji shook his head a bit in exasperation and gave Itachi one of his sweet buns. "How do you know that anyway?" But as always his friend just smiled enigmatically and said, "I have my ways."

To nobodies surprise Itachi's "predictions" came true and one landslide later they both stood inside the "Beast's Forest", seperated from the rest of the class. 

Itachi almost expected monstrous insects and deadly flora, but had to remind himself, that something as lethal as the Forest of Death would not be an appropriate training ground in this world. It, of course, didn't stop him from being reasonably cautious (or extremely paranoid as Aizawa-senpai called it), while navigating through the greenery. 

Kouji used his control over the animals for scouting ahead and Itachi his vast experience to determine it the most efficient path. 

(Kisame hadn't for the life of him been able to run in the trees. There had two Incidents, Which Were To Be Never Mentioned Again or I will feed your eyeballs to Samehada, I swear Itachi, after which they had decided to travel on the ground or water exclusively.)

They were almost at the halfway point, when Itachi noticed an anomaly. He signed Kouji, who fell back immediately and Itachi congratulated himself for teaching Kouji and Aizawa-senpai the Konohan Anbu-signs. Why the Heroes hadn't already invented something like it, was beyond him.

He snuck silently forward and discovered the source of the sludgy sounds. A misshapen humanoid made out of mud trudged through the undergrowth towards their location. Itachi immediately activated his Sharingan to see, that the thing definitely wasn't human. It took him longer than it should have to realize, that it probably was a construct of the earth-manipulating Heroine, who had sent them down with the landslide.

As beings made of earth, they or their creator probably oriented themselves by the vibrations in the earth. This theory was proven to be correct, when the creature failed to locate them in the trees, but lunged for a small explosive Itachi had thrown for distraction. On his command Kouji and him both sprinted away from it, while their running was obstructed with another set of explosives. After they had cleared enough distance, Itachi stopped them again.

"Those were made by Pixie-Bob, the woman, who also made the landslide. They orient themselves by the vibrations in the ground. The best course of action should be walking as silent as we can and deflect their attention by climbing on the trees. Standing still should also help, if there aren't any trees nearby. Fighting them is not advisable. They are most likely are resistant to physical damage and the resulting ruckus would inform others of its kind of our location." 

Only when Kouji looked at him with big eyes and hesitantly signed "Affirmative", Itachi realised, that he had slipped back into old habits and had signed "Understood?" after giving his assessment and commands. Well, that was something to ponder on, when they had reached their goal. He signed Kouji to follow silently and took the lead again. 

They successfully evaded three other mud-beasts and were the first ones to reach the camp in the early afternoon. Shouta and Pixie-Bob looked suitably impressed at their early arrival, but that quickly changed to annoyance in Shouta's case, when Itachi held his hand out. After a short staring contest, Eraserhead caved in and handed over the bag of dango. Itachi smiled a bit smugly, thanked his mentor and shared his loot with Kouji. 

The peaceful moment was broken shortly after, when Pixie-Bob loudly demanded to know, what that had been all about. Shouta just grinned maliciously at Itachi and commented rather gleefully, that this question would be better answered by the "prodigious student" himself. 

Itachi vowed revenge as soon as he would find a way to extract himself from this adult fangirl.


	16. Not a Hero?

"What do you think you would do, if you weren't going to be a Hero?" Hagakure-san asked their cafeteria-table. "I always thought I'd go into modelling, myself." She giggled. "But jokes aside, what do you think you would be doing?" She seemed to look at each of them, but it was hard to tell with her invisibility. 

Kouji was the first one to answer. "I always thought about being a veterinarian. With my Quirk and all that." He shyly ducked his head. 

"I guess being able to command the animals would make that a lot easier.", Tokoyami-san pondered. "For me it had to be something, where I am always in the light..." 

He wouldn't have to do that, if he at least tried to communicate with Dark Shadow and find an accord, but to Itachi's consternation Tokoyami-san was anything but receptive to "such foolish ideas".

"You could work as an interior designer for lighting." Hagakure-san suggested slightly chuckling. 

"Or just any job at a hospital or in most laboratories. They even have emergency power supplies.", Itachi contributed his own two cents in a dry voice. They nodded their heads in approval, having all just taken a bite.

"That are some good ideas, Itachi-san. What about you?" 

Of course she had to ask him, too. Not for the first time he wished to have learned to respond to such queries without resorting to violence or silence.

"I ... " He had promised Aizawa-senpai to try and be honest (to a certain degree) with his classmates. "I don't know."

"Well, what are you particularly good at?" Hagakure-san asked. 

_Killing, manipulating, ruining lives_

There was a pregnant pause at the table, where everybody thought about the question. "Let me rephrase that question. Is there anything you are not good at?" 

_Being a brother, a son, a friend_

Tokoyami-san came to his rescue. "Is there truly nothing you could think of? You always think of everything, Yugasa-san."

He was not wrong. "I had thought about becoming a doctor before." 

Kouji looked very intently at his plate. Itachi had already told him about it. 

"You definitely have the brains for it, but that does sound like there is a "but"." Hagakure-san trailed off. 

Itachi took a breath. "You are not wrong. I just think it too fascinating." 

"What do you mean with that?", she asked confused. Tokoyami-san only had a slightly calculating look in his eyes.

Itachi smirked cruelly. "I mean that I rather would experiment on my patients, than heal them."

(He was an innately curious person and the years of acquaintance with minds like Sasori and Orochimaru had done nothing for his ethical integrity.) 

He looked her directly in the eyes (at least from her perspective).She said nothing for a while, presumably too shocked to gather any words. That should make her think about trying to flirt with him in the future. 

Tokoyami-san instead just nodded. "It would be like me being a cave explorer. Just to much opportunities to loose control." 

That was not, what Itachi had expected. Maybe there was something to Aizawa-senpai's idea with trust and truth after all.


	17. The U.S.J. Incident

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note, that there is a lot of violence and blood in this chapter.

There were villains. There were Villains attacking His students in the U.S.J.. Eraserhead needed to get them out of here. This was not a battle they could win. He charged ahead and let Thirteen handle the evacuation. The more time he could buy them, the better.

It was soon after that he heard the screams of his students, but he didn't have the time to look back. If the villains were only even a bit more coordinated, they would have already incapacitated him. But as it stood, some of them were even hurting their allies in their attempts to fight him. 

Blood splattered against Eraserhead's chest as a Villain with a massive sword decapitated another. He wasn't allowed to loose focus, the lives of his students were on the line. 

He could taste the blood on his lips. 

Another villain slipped on the bloodpuddle and stabbed himself with spikes, that were protruding from his hands. 

A woman with sharp claws instead of feet was running over her fallen comrades to reach him, leaving shredded bodies in her wake. 

Someone, who could shoot and control steel-cables pierced another man with reptilian features. Eraserhead easily could wind himself out of the cables' hold because of their slickness.

It smelled of iron and dust. 

The leader of the villains was screaming at his underlings about fighting the Heroes, not each other, but soon ignored them for monologuing about All Might.

Eraserhead finally had cleared the field enough to have a look around. Thirteen was engaged with the warp-quirk person-thing, there was more fighting going on in the individual rescue-zones (his students!) and not far from him Yugasa was engaged with a Villain with suction hoses for arms. 

Before Eraserhead could intervene, there suddenly was a hulking shadow behind him. He dodged as fast as he could, but the gigantic fist of this grotesque thing still clipped his left leg and he was hurled back. It moved faster than a being with its size had any right to and Eraserhead could only dodge. He tried to get to the leader, who seemed to command that thing, but it didn't let him. 

Around them the situation had devolved. Most Villains were fighting each other with no mercy. There were cries about crows and demons. 

The whole floor was glistening red. 

It took a bit of careful manoeuvring, but for all its strength this "Nomu" wasn't particularly smart, and Eraserhead managed to get near the leader. His plan wasn't really thought out, but there wasn't any time for something more elaborate. 

He came to a halt, took aim, threw his knife towards the leader and braced himself for the impact. 

As planned the leader instinctively tried to use his quirk on the knife, which Eraserhead had disabled. It looked like the knife cleanly cut into the hand, but then the Nomu had caught up and the only thing, that registered in Eraserhead's mind, was pain, as his body was flung towards the leader from the force of the hit. 

It now tasted like blood inside his mouth, too. 

Despite the pain he managed to maintain his line of sight with the leader. The problem was, that he now was in melee range of a clearly deranged man, who now also had a knife. Eraserhead had hoped, that the cut was going to be more debilitating, but it had been a desperate gambit anyway. He struggled as hard as he could, but the leader soon had him down on the ground with few well aimed stabs. 

He saw out of the corner of his eyes, how his blood mixed with the one already on the ground. 

He couldn't even taste it anymore. It flowed down his nostril and pooled in his mouth. 

The leader talked about, how Eraserhead would now be executed in before his students' eyes by the Nomu, but there was nothing Shouta could do. 

Every time his hands tried to grip anything, they slipped off, every time he tried to open his mouth there came nothing, but blood out of it. Even his vision was tinted red by splatters on his goggles. 

The Nomu reared back for the final hit and Shouta asked himself,if that was, how Oboro had felt in his last moments. 

The fist came down, but instead of ending Shouta there was a sickening crunch and the leader was screaming.

At this point Shouta's mind was strongly affected by the loss of blood. The Nomu turned into dust and at some point there was All Might. He was sure that the warp-quirk Villain was also involved somehow. 

The last thing he saw were two bloodred eyes looking into his own.

"From what you are telling me, Aizawa-sensei, it does sound like there was something inducing this violence. Most Villains, while violent and brutal, do not massacre people without a reason. Especially not their own. And it was a pre-planned attack from an organised group. There really should have been no reason for this in-fighting. Of course I am thankful, that you are still alive, but I don't like it." 

Nezu ran the railing of Shouta's hospital-bed up and down, clearly agitated. 

"Maybe one of the Villains had a quirk, which produces a violent haze? Or just amplifies violent emotions? Some of them got away, didn't they.", Shouta offered as an explanation. His body still hurt and he was tired. 

"But that doesn't explain why this "Nomu" suddenly hit their alleged master and not you." 

Shouta grunted in response. He really didn't want to think about it at the moment. If the headmaster wanted to discuss this in earnest, he had to wait until Shouta was not high on painkillers. He slept.


	18. The Power of a Name

"Most of you probably have already thought about, what your Hero-Names are going to be, but do keep in mind, that the the Hero-Name reflects on the Hero as much as the Hero reflects on their name. You have 15 minutes."

Itachi stared at blank canvas before him. It was not like he hadn't thought about the name, under which he was going to be known, but it still was surreal. 

In the Hidden Nations your moniker was earned. It was given by your enemies after proving yourself worth of their attention. Not that Itachi had any intentions of earning "Clan-Killer Itachi" once again. His mo-, Nanako was still alive.

(But with the U.S.J. Incident he already had at least one massacre under his belt. Again.) 

He had briefly thought about naming himself Uchiha. But that was just inviting trouble in. This cursed name had brought him and everybody, who wore it, only misery. They had been powerful, but at what cost. They had loved too fiercely and hated too much. They had been all seeing and blind at the same time. They had prided themselves in their strong bonds, but those had been their downfall.

(And their arrogance. Itachi would have never been able to slaughter them like cattle, if they hadn't thought themselves infallible. )

The time was already up. Itachi quickly wrote his name down and waited for the others. At least this wasn't as boring as the classes normally were. 

Hadn't he trained himself out of it a long time ago, he would have startled badly at Tokoyami's chosen name. Tsukuyomi was the name of a god and Itachi doubted Tokoyami knew, what that meant. 

(Itachi could show him. Show him, what it meant to use a gods power.) 

Such a name was not invoked lightly. (Power came always with a price.) 

He would keep an eye on Tokoyami. (The Sharingan had been able to control a Bijuu. It should be able to control Dark Shadow.)

He smiled at Kouji's presentation. The "Petting Hero: Anima" didn't reveal anything about Kouji's identity or abilities, but still brought out his gentle nature.

Then it was his time. He revealed his name and was met with clueless stares, not that he had expected anything different.

"An interesting choice. Munin was one of the two ravens of Odin, the Norse god, if I remember correctly. The others name was Hugin. One of them meant memory and the other thought. Which one was Munin?", Midnight-sensei explained to the class.

"The memory one, sensei." A reminder of another life in another world and all the mistakes, he hopefully was going to avoid.

"Ahh well. That is acceptable, I guess. Mineta-san, you are next."


	19. The Final Exam

"Hagakure-san.", Yugasa said. There was no discernible emotion in his voice, but Nezu didn't expect anything different. Everyone of his teacher had attested to Yugasa's control over his emotions.

"Itachi-san.", the invisible girl answered. 

"Yes, of course.", she said not shortly after. Nezu cursed Yugasa-kun. There went his idea to spy on their preparations for their upcoming confrontation. Aizawa-sensei had warned him about the boys paranoia. Still he had not expected him to put his partner under an illusion to keep their plans a secret.

While he couldn't glean much more information from their now onesided conversation, it seemed like Yugasa had assumed the role of the leader and strategist. Hagakure-san mainly nodded or asked for clarification.

At the ten minute mark of their 15 minutes of preparation time, Yugasa handed a few of his gadgets over to Hagakure-san. Nezu could make out some small grenades and their pair of handcuffs, which she stored in her gloves. So Yugasa wanted to be the distraction, while Hagakure-san snuck up on him. Not the worst strategy, but they had to do a lot more to bring him down. 

Reluctantly Nezu left them to make the last preparations for his side of the test. He already had gained enough information from them. Especially considering, that he wasn't supposed to spy on them at all. He laughed maliciously. This was going to be fun.

The exam had started. His two victims made a beeline to the exit of this urban maze. Nezu had not expected anything less. It was the most forcing move and Yugasa was quite the strategist, if Yagi-san was to be believed. Nezu manoeuvred his wrecking ball into position and collapsed their escape route. A flock of crows was startled by the noise and began circling overhead. 

They both didn't have physical quirks, so he was excited how Yugasa was going to solve this problem. Of course all the dust would also make Hagakure-san's invisibility quite useless. He laughed again. 

His laughter ended abruptly, when something whizzed near his cabin. He only just dove out of the way of the rain of shards as a flashbang exploded not far away. How had they known his location that fast and how had they gotten the flashbang to him? The distance should have been too far to throw it.

Well, if they wanted a direct confrontation, he was happy to indulge them. He only had to make sure not to look in Yugasa's eyes., so he closed his. They would regret the day, they had started a fight with him. 

Only a short time later he was, where he had last seen them. The trail was easy to pick up for someone with a good nose. 

The startled murder of crows had now settled on the ruins, sometimes cawing. He didn't like crows. They always triggered some primitive part of his brain, that wanted to hide in the next hole. He ignored them and made haste to catch up with his prey, before they reached the next exit. 

They had immediately moved after disturbing him. It didn't take long until he and those blasted birds had caught up to them. 

He mercilessly fell upon Hagakure-san trying to get her gloves and consequently the handcuffs. Instead of fighting back she backed up and used one of the grenades. It was a smoke grenade, which now that he thought about it, was ingenious. 

It made his sense of smell useless and he already knew from All Might and Eraserhead, that both were too stealthy to be heard over the hissing of the grenade. So Nezu had to rely on his sight once again. Of course you couldn't see a lot inside the smoke, so the first order of business was getting out. 

He chose one direction and cautiously advanced. Suddenly there was a caw right above his head. He turned around, before he thought better of it and stared into the red eyes of a gigantic crow. 

Fear seized his heart and he ran away as quickly as he could. To blocks later his brain finally registered the impossibility of this situation and he bit himself rather harshly. The pain cleared his senses, he gigantic crow vanished and he discovered, that he never left the smokescreen. 

Two gloves suddenly tried to restrain him, but they had to do better than this to best him. He went on the offensive again, still trying to pry the handcuffs from Hagakure-san. They traded a few blows, both of them limited by low visibility. 

Nezu saw his opportunity. He hopped onto Hagakure-san's arm and jumped to the other one biting into the hand, that held the target. 

It tasted like feathers in his mouth and his opponent burst into crows. He was petrified for a moment and it was enough to feel, how the steel tightly closed around his paws.

In front of him stood Yugasa, eyes still red and the hands on the cuffs belonged to Hagakure-san. The smoke had mostly been blown away by now. Above them the crows perched on the ledges of the building. 

"Congratulations. You passed the exam." If it wasn't said with as much enthusiasm as normal and his small heart was still trying to leap out of his chest, no one needed to know. 

Back in the observation room Nezu's first point of order was to drink a cup of tea until his paws weren't shaking. 

To nobody's surprise Yugasa and Hagakure-san had been the first ones to pass the exam and had almost no injuries. 

While they all silently observed the other matches, Nezu mulled over the fight. There was something he was missing. How had they known, where to find him in the beginning?

He let his eyes wander to Yugasa. The boy went outside and cawed loudly. If he hadn't just seen it with his own eyes, Nezu would have never believed the sound to be made by a human. Immediately the murder came down to greet him and eat out of his hand. 

Of course. The boy was best friends with the one, who could command animals. Between the two of them the crows would do his bidding anytime. His Hero-Name was a legendary raven. Nezu chuckled. 

Now that he was thinking about it, at the U.S.J. Incident (it should have been named Massacre) Aizawa had reported, that some of the villains had cried about ravens or crows. It could be a coincidence, but Nezu didn't believe in them.

He would have to interrogate Aizawa-san more thoroughly on Yugasa's abilities the next time. And he would keep an eye on the student. There was a seriously brilliant mind in that head. Nezu didn't want it to be used by Villains. 

(Though a small part of him was delighted by the idea of him and Yugasa on the different sides of a war. He has itched for a good challenge since he had argued himself into legally being a human.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The longest chapter yet and it was a bitch to write. I hope you like it.


	20. Shouta has a Migraine

Shouta looked at where his two mentees were having a stand-off. Well Hitoshi was having a onesided stand-off and Itachi was unflappable as (almost) always. 

His original plan had been to introduce them as soon as possible, but he then had had reservations about it. Itachi was not really, what you could describe as sociable. His distant and polite manner could be seen as arrogant and his advice, while helpful, was very honest. 

Hitoshi on the other hand was hotheaded, bitter and rather set in his ways. 

One didn't need to be a genius to see, that that clash of characters was volatile, so he delayed their meeting until he had a better feeling about it. 

"So what do you think of Shinsou-san?" Shouta asked his problem-pupil after their first training session. 

It had been, as far as he could discern, amicable on Itachi's part and tense on Hitoshi's, not that he had expected anything different. Itachi was after all everything Hitoshi wished to be. (At least on the surface. Shouta was pretty sure Hitoshi didn't want to have that much trauma.)

Itachi cocked his head to the side. "He is easy to manipulate." 

He groaned internally. How could he have forgotten Itachi's screwed priorities? 

"You could give him the acknowledgement he craves and direct his anger to a different target and he would burn the world down for you." 

Shouta blinked. He didn't even know, what to think about this, never mind say. 

"On the other hand he would be a prime target for any political group, if he isn't going to be encouraged in his dreams here." 

Shouta could see it before his eyes. 

An (at the beginning) innocent correspondence filled with flattery and vague enough to be intriguing.  
A small gift, then asking for a favour in return.  
Commenting off-handely about how they can empathise with quirk-realted bullying.  
Asking for another favour.  
Steering the next conversation about the deficiencies in the current Hero-system.  
Another gift.  
Lamenting about the waste of potential in Hitoshi, but also saying that they would never intervene as long as Hitoshi doesn't tell them to.  
Laying back, waiting for a few new incidents, in which Hitoshi is treated unfairly.  
Always lending an ear to his complaints.  
Hitoshi will ask on his own accord soon enough and offer his talents for compensation, because of his pride.  
A bit of induced emotional dependency to complete the scheme and they would have Hitoshi's undying loyalty.  
Shouta frowned and activated his quirk. The visuals disappeared, but it didn't make the thought process less logical. He cursed his past-self for the idea to volunteer for Itachi's quirk-training. 

Said demon spawn gave him a small smile. "What gave it away?"

"I wouldn't have known enough about psychological manipulation to envision that scenario." 

He closed his eyes in consideration. "Though it is a valid point. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. " He was rewarded with another small smile. 

Should he ask for an assessment of the students in his class? 

It would help him to keep them save from the Villains aiming for All-Might. (But there hadn't been a lot of the League left, after the U.S.J. Incident.) 

On the other hand it would make him even more susceptible to any manipulation from Itachi.

What would Hitoshi say, if the only reason why Shouta wasn't wary of his Quirk was, because Itachi's was much more frightening?

What was it with this years students? 

There was All Might's successor, the son of Endeavour (and boy was that another emotional mess), the walking anger-management-issue, the brother-complex with engine-legs and the "free will is a consideration for other people" killer. 

What did Shouta do in his last life to deserve this? Murder babies in their sleep? 

He needed a drink or two. Maybe more like five. He texted Hizashi and Nemuri. 

Not that he could talk to them about Itachi, but he could drown those thoughts in their presence. (Or at least attempt to drown.)


End file.
